[ET Net News Agency, 9 January 2020] Nomura raised its target price for China National
Building Material (CNBM)(03323) to HK$11.7 from HK$6.6 and upgraded its rating to "buy"
from "neutral".
The research house raised its 2019/20 earnings forecasts by 9% each for CNBM as it
factored in a lower percentage of minority interest after the company increased its
holdings of profitable subsidiaries in 2019.
Nomura believes that recent years of a policy-led industry up-cycle (which saw policy
easing together with production curtailment) will enable CNBM to further lower its net
gearing to 150%/112% in 2020/21 from 202% in 2019. This should gradually address
investors' concerns about the company's balance sheet and trigger a further re-rating of
its stock, which has long traded at a significant discount to peers. (KL)